“If someone turns with his spiritual world toward the spiritual world of another person, he encounters an awesome and inspiring mystery…He comes into contact with the true image of God in man, with the very icon of God incarnate in the world.”

Mother Maria Skobtsova

To hold the front lines of beauty in a time of chaos – this is the calling of both the contemplative and the activist.

What we desperately need is not just a diagnosis of what is wrong in our world, but a compelling vision for Reality as it could be. To hold the front lines of beauty is to hold the front lines of the imago dei, the beauty of God and his image reflected in each and every human life. All that we do must be built around these two truths.

And this means each of us must first confront our own darkness if we are to ever effectively work for justice and the flourishing of our communities. We must allow ourselves to be transformed by others instead of simply seeking to conform them.

To know ourselves and still find ourselves Beloved: this is the work of the contemplative activist, the invitation to all of us.